Silly Pictures and Pretty Dresses

A couple months ago I had the absolute pleasure of participating in a wedding.

Thing is, a few years ago, I kinda roped the bride into having me as one of her bridesmaids.

Okay, that sounds bad. Okay, I can explain. I think.

Karla, the beautiful bride, is really one of the coolest adults I know.

(I call her “Ate Karla”–“Ate” is a term of respect that you call “sisters” back in The Philippines”)

She loves being around people, and, honestly, I think everyone loves her company.

During the summers, my niece and I get to spend a couple days with her and act all silly and not think about tomorrow and eat too much and laugh ’til our cheeks hurt and take hundreds of pictures.

like this

(Left: my lovely niece, Mary. Right: me)

(Karla and Mary)

(I love this one hah)

(top: us trying to look cool :P)

One of those summers, we parked in a commercial area, with shops all around us, probably eating ice cream, while trying to plan our future shenanigans.

I vaguely remember what we were doing there and where we were going, but vividly remember the discussion we had:

“Okay, girls! Where should we head to next!” Karla exclaimed.

We smile… and try to think of something fun we can do on a budget.

Then. Boom.

Mary and I start to nudge each other as we spot “David’s Bridal” a few stores down.

I was probably 14-15 (don’t quote me on that; I have a horrid sense of time hah.) and Mary was 11-12…

I think its around that age where girls realize that:

Some boys aren’t so annoying after all;

Wedding dresses are real pretty and fluffy;

bridesmaid duty is a BIG step up from flower girl status;

getting your best friends to dress up in your favorite color and look gorgeous alongside you is awesome;

maybe having a day where everybody gasps at how beautiful you are is even better.

So. We suggest the most rational thing any sugar-powered teen would.

And of course, the older, more mature one suggests it.

“LETS TRY ON DRESSES AT DAVID’S BRIDAL!!!” I scream, as if I spot the Jonas Brothers down the street (Yeah, Bieber wasn’t big back then).

“YES!!” Mary echoes. And I think we burst out in some equivalent of a happy dance in the backseat of the car.

Karla may have been in her early twenties and single, but obviously she’d be the more believable bride-to-be.

ideas started to pour out from the backseat like:

“You can try on poofy dresses!”

“And we can try on bridesmaid dresses!”

“You can say you get married next month!”

“To…um.. a guy”…

“What should be his name?”

I love how Karla laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, and presented us with reasonable gaps in our thought-to-be-perfect plan.

Like:

“What if they look for the engagement ring?”

or

“What if they ask how long we’ve been together or how he proposed?”

Which we respond to: “He can’t afford one… or it’s in the mail!”

And somewhere in there, I’m pretty sure I present the idea of pretending we can’t speak English or fashioning a trash bag into an engagement ring… or something like that.

(I’m just overflowing with brilliance, right?)

Reality sinks in eventually, (“It ain’t going to happen!”)

and we laugh a little to cover our disappointment.

But Karla asks us the most important question of our then 11 year old and 15 year old lives:

“You’ll be my bridesmaids, for my future wedding right?”

NO WAY. Flower girl status.. was sorta subjected to the cute little girl who could walk down the aisle to the music and not eat the flowers.

People liked you.

That’s cause you were five… and they weren’t taking you home with them.

Bridesmaid– now that, was special.

Of course we couldn’t believe it, so I told her,

“When we get home, you have to get that on paper and sign and date it too!!”

“Of course, I want you two in my wedding! And you’ll like my futur husband too, okay? He has to be cool with hanging out with the family and you guys!”

Fast-forward a couple years.

Someone gets engaged on a starry night, on a hill overlooking the bright downtown lights.

“Did you ask my parents?” she says, trying to contain her excitement.

“I did! So what is your answer? To my question?”

“YES!”

Meet the guy she said “Yes!” to- Patrick.

He proudly serves our country in the military, likes football, legos and filipino food (any food for that matter). He’ll totally take you on in a dance-off, and will play video games for hours with Mary’s little bro.

He and Karla are absolutely perfect together, and he is almost as cool as she is! (teheee ;))

We (Mary and I) adore them and look forward to our future summer adventures with these newlyweds!

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3 thoughts on “Silly Pictures and Pretty Dresses”

What a great story, with a beautiful ending! Although it really hasn’t ended . . . . . . .
They have beautiful children & live happily ever after, moving back & forth from the East to West Coast so that both families get to spend time with them!

aaaaaawwww deborah! Love love love this blog! I got teary-eyed reading it and looking at the lovely pictures. I missed you guys already. And yes, dreams do come true. My prince charming came in God’s perfect time. And it is my prayer that you and Mary will enjoy your youth like I did mine and in God’s perfect time you will meet God’s perfectly hand-picked guy for the both of you. We love you both dearly and we look forward to creating more adventures with you two. This time around we have a bodyguard and a driver already. *wink. Love lots ate Lay

Welcome!

I'm Debbie.. and
sometimes I talk and think too much, and this blog is a result of those words spilled on to paper (or computer screen or whatever you prefer to call it).
But, hopefully to you (and me), it serves as an encouragement and a reminder to be thankful in all things.

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